re: Stuck in AT&T Contract

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I think it depends on specifics of every situation

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Absolutely right it does, which is why it's frustrating that every thread about AT&T unlimited plans has someone making a broad statement in favor of switching from unlimited. It's entirely situation-based, and it does not necessarily have anything to do with how much data the person uses. I use less data per month on average than the OP, in fact.

It's a matter of trade-off. The old plans have minutes and SMS/MMS allotments and unlimited data. But if one never exceeds those allotments anyway, it matters not. Same goes for data, right? So, it merely comes down to price, paying particular attention to the 24-month costs including a phone. It's a very easy calculation to do, but it's totally individualized.

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I also laugh at how they think their plan is actually unlimited. Tell me how it works for you once you hit about 22GB of usage.

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That's a funny statement in itself. Despite its irrelevance in this situation, the price you'd pay on the current plans for that amount of data (per phone, I might add) is comical.

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Aren't the major carriers all moving away from subsidized pricing?

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I've been hearing that rumor about AT&T for the past 4 years, because on the current plans AT&T actually penalizes you with a $15-25/month charge for using subsidized pricing. However, like clockwork, my wife and I have upgraded our phones and kept our old plan every two years (one of us upgrading approximately each year).

I kept my phone a little longer the last go-round so that my wife and I could upgrade at the same time, which we did in November last year. So now if that rumor of no more cheap phones for the unlimited folks ever comes true, I have a clean exit strategy to switch to Straight Talk, which I'll probably do anyway because I'm failing to find an unacceptable downside to doing so.

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I have 5 smartphones on our plan

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Well, there you go. Major emphasis on the whole "individual situation" concept. 5 lines on ST would be $225 a month, with a 5GB throttle point for each phone. While ST would beat the price of 25GB + 5 lines on AT&T, this is a case of usage-based decision-making and having the advantage of multiple lines, and you end up saving by going with a 15 or 20GB plan. (Although, if you broke those 5 lines up into individual plans, they'd each be $55 a month for 2GB, so ST wins there).